Fun facts!

Moose are the largest species in a family of animals called cervids. Cervids also include deer and elk.

During World War II, British Prime Minister tried to get Australia to send a live platypus to England. He hoped this would boost British spirits and strengthen ties between Britain and Australia.

When a dog sniffs a fire hydrant, that’s not all it’s smelling. Dogs can perceive many different scents and different layers within one scent. Dogs have about 300 million olfactory receptors and humans only 6 million. Can you imagine what goes through their minds when they sniff around during a simple walk at the park?

It is estimated that millions of trees in the world are accidentally planted by squirrels that forgot where they hid their nuts.

The female Surinam toad (Pipa pipa) carries fertilized eggs embedded in the skin on her back until the offspring emerge as fully developed toads.

Cricket chirps are temperature dependent. Count the number of cricket chirps in 13 seconds, add 40 and you’ll get the ambient temperature in °F.

Pythons and boa constrictors have tiny vestigial hind limbs, visible as cuticled spurs on the outside of the body.

Horses are among the fastest mammals clocking speeds above 35 miles per hour, but ironically the slowest fish is named the seahorse, which swims at 0.01 mph.

The majority of reef fish change sex (physically, physiologically and behaviorally) in their lifetime depending on population dynamics.

While most mammals have seven cervical vertebrae (the bones supporting the neck), it turns out that the manatee and the two-toed sloth only have six while ant bear has eight and the three-toed sloth has nine! Additionally, giraffes, who you might think have many, many cervical vertebrae have only seven, just like us.

In dogs, the colloquial term “in heat” to describe estrus comes from the increase in size and temperature of the vulva.

Unlike other ruminants, camelids (llamas, alpacas, camels, etc.) only have three compartments to their stomach (C1, C2 and C3).

Red kangaroo can pause the gestation process and hold a fertilized egg for up 200 days

Rooster sperm do not undergo capacitation, unlike their mammalian counterparts.

Frogs can throw up, but not the way humans do. They actually expel their entire stomach then use their forearms to “dig” the contents out. After they’re done, the stomach goes back in.

The platypus and echidna are the only monotremes in our world today. A monotreme is a egg-laying mammal.

Seventeen Nobel Prizes have been awarded to scientists who conducted research with cows, chickens, horses or sheep as biomedical models during their studies.

Fun fact: Vellum

In 2006, Irish archeologists pulled an ancient book out of a peat bog. Radiocarbon dating showed that the book was between 1,000 to 1,200 years old. They could also tell that the book was made of soft calf-skin called vellum. This book, called the Faddan More Psalter, was proof that farmers contributed their animal products to create early literature. Read more

Fun fact: Feather boas from Turkey feathers

The same turkeys that become Thanksgiving dinner also supply feathers for products like feather boas, hair clips and corsages.

“I’m sure people in the store don’t realize they are turkey feathers,” said Shirley Davenport from Arkansas Valley Feathers, a company that collects turkey feathers from processing plants.

Collecting the turkey feathers is just the first step for Arkansas Valley Feathers. Read more

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